Coco Gauff’s former coach backs Carlos Alcaraz after huge Wimbledon setback

Carlos Alcaraz won’t be playing at this year’s Wimbledon after picking up an injury.

Last year’s runner-up, who has also won the event twice, has decided to pull out of the tournament before play gets underway. Reacting to the news, Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, shared his thoughts.

Brad Gilbert backs Carlos Alcaraz’s decision to skip Wimbledon and grass season

Gilbert shared his view on X, formerly Twitter.

“Massive bummer news on escape from [Carlos] Alcaraz pulling out of grass court swing,” he said. “Hopefully he will be back this summer, way better at his age to not rush back and be 100% when ready to go.”

The 21-year-old picked up a wrist injury in his last appearance against Otto Virtanen in Barcelona 35 days ago.

He then pulled out of the Barcelona Open, which led to criticism from some Spanish fans who accused him of putting other tournaments ahead of his home event.

But fellow Spaniard Alex Corretja defended him at the time, and has since issued another message supporting the world No.3.

Alex Corretja responds to fans criticising Carlos Alcaraz

Corretja began by posting a supportive message on X.

“The wait is getting long, heavy, and very sad. But the important thing is to recover well and come back when possible,” he said (translated from Spanish).

He followed that up with another post, this time addressing the critics of Alcaraz in a more pointed way.

“Thank goodness Alcaraz pulled out of the Godo [Barcelona Open] because he didn’t care about the tournament and wanted to save energy for the rest of the clay and grass tour!” said Corretja.

“What a shame, so much ignorance, and worse, so much bad faith from a lot of people.”

With Alcaraz set to miss two Grand Slams this year, it’s clear there was more than enough justification for his decision to skip Barcelona too.

No one wants wrist injuries to be taken lightly – Alcaraz is simply doing what’s needed to avoid making things worse.

The bigger question now isn’t whether he made the right call but where we’ll see him play next. That’s still up in the air until he gives an update on his recovery timeline.

Carlos Alcaraz may have a unique shot at the Canadian Open

Among the nine Masters 1000 tournaments, the Canadian Open is perhaps most impacted by player withdrawals.

The quick turnaround from Wimbledon means that players who go deep at SW19 often skip Montreal or Toronto to rest.

Alcaraz sat out the Canadian Open in both 2024 and 2025, and he wasn’t alone in that decision.

Novak Djokovic, for example, hasn’t played a match there since 2018.

Djokovic stopped playing in Canada after completing his Career Golden Masters, becoming the first player to win all nine Masters events – twice over.

Sinner recently joined that exclusive club with his win at the Italian Open. For Alcaraz to do the same, he still needs titles in Canada, Shanghai, and Paris.

If Alcaraz is healthy, returning to action in Canada would be logical. It’s a good way to build match fitness before defending his US Open title while also targeting one of the three Masters titles he’s missing.

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